St. George is one of Utah’s best-kept secrets, although the area has seen a huge population boom in recent years. St. George sits surrounded by vivid red rock formations and brightly colored hills with some of the best-known formations in the county. It’s also the site of a major dinosaur discovery site, the Zion National Park and seemingly limitless entertainment. With its mild winters and central location, St. George is a dream destination for many. Planning to relocate to Utah? Here are some reasons you should turn to St. George, the most popular Washington County real estate.

The Annual Arts Festival
The Arts Festival held each year in St. George draws thousands from around the United States. The festival got its start over 30 years ago to showcase artists from the city, although it now contains entries from artists throughout the country. The festival displays thousands of original works, live entertainment, a children’s area and delicious food and takes place in the Town Square, which now has a waterfall river, a splash pad and the St. George Carousel for kids.

What to Do in St. George
Wondering how you’d spend your time if you lived in the city? If you enjoy the outdoors, the area offers rock climbing, boating, fishing, river rafting, skiing and quite a few golf courses. You can also head to the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site or explore the hundreds of petroglyphs still remaining around the city. St. George is also located right next to the Zion National Park, where you can retrace the steps of pioneers and the ancient inhabitants of the area. This growing city also has plenty of shopping, dining and indoor entertainment, including the IMAX at Zion National Park.

Living in St. George
St. George is a thriving and active community with mild winters and very warm summers. The county has enjoyed one of the highest job growth rates in the entire country and most of the economy here comes from tourism and SkyWest Airlines, which is headquartered in the city. The area is also home to a Wal-Mart distribution center and Intermountain Health Care, both of which supply a great deal of jobs. St. George has a lower-than-average cost of living and Washington County homes for sale in the area continue to remain affordable. The area also sees very little crime and serves as the arts center for much of the state.

Thinking of moving to St. George? Contact the friendly Washington County realtors at Red Sign today! We’ll tell you all about the great opportunities in the city and help you find the home of your dreams among Utah’s most beautiful red rock canyons.

1. How does this affect the sales contract? Any documents pertaining to the sale of the property (any contracts or disclosures) must have the names and signatures of whoever is on the title, regardless of whose on the loan.
2.  How does this affect the short sale packet? The Third Party Lender will only require documents from whoever is named on the loan, regardless of who is named on title. That means that if only 1 homeowner is named on the loan, paystubs and bank statements for the other don’t need to be submitted or included in any financial statements. Unfortunately, this means their debt can’t be used to prove a hardship either.
3. How do I find out who is the on the loan and who is on the title? Your monthly loan statements will indicate the names of every person who is named on the loan. You can contact the title company who closed the transaction, or you can contact your Country Recorders Office, to find out who is named on the title. If you currently have your property listed with a Realtor ®, they will have ordered a Property Report from their title company, which will also have this information on it.

Having a missing signature on a contract can severely slow down the transaction process. Submitted financials for someone who isn’t on the loan can confuse the bank and end in them declining a sale based off financial information they shouldn’t technically be taking into consideration. So, before you sign a purchase contract or submit your hardship packet, make sure you’re clear who needs to sign what and whose financials have to be included.  If you have any other questions regarding a short sale or the sale of your home,  please contact the Frei Team to assist you with all your needs!

Delays in the Utah Loan Modification Process

I received a call from a very frustrated and distraught homeowner today. For the last few months she has tried frantically to make contact with her lender and work out a repayment plan or Utah loan modification. She and her husband had run into some financial difficulties that caused her to fall a couple months behind. They have since recovered and had saved a few thousand dollars to help catch up the back payments. She made numerous attempts to get her lender to identify the amount of money necessary to bring her loan back into good standing. They kept telling her that they couldn’t discuss the numbers over the phone but would mail them out to her. Week after week they never came. The homeowner finally went so far as to obtain a PO Box address and notified the lender of the change of address. Still no communication identifying the amount needed to bring the loan current.

Lender Sets a Foreclosure Sale Date

Just the other day the homeowner made another attempt to contact the lender and identify the restatement amount. She spoke with a rep who told her that there was a foreclosure sale date scheduled 14 days from now. The homeowner couldn’t believe what she heard. Now she is scrambling to find a way to avoid foreclosure and keep her home. She may end up having to file bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure.

Delays are not Uncommon

This story is not uncommon. I talk with homeowners everyday that are faced with foreclosure in Utah. Many who have been working with their lender for months trying to successfully negotiation a loan modification in Utah or a repayment plan just to find out that the lender is not agreeing to their request and oh…by the way…there is a foreclosure sale date right around the corner.

Have a “Plan B”

Although I don’t have a great explanation for why this happens, I do want to caution homeowners who have all their eggs in the Utah loan modification basket. If you are currently in foreclosure and trying to work out a repayment plan or loan modification, you may want to have a “plan B”. A short sale my be the “plan B” you are looking for. To learn more about short sales in Southern Utah, visit our website or contact the Frei Team directly!

In a foreclosure or short sale situation, the lender may forgive the remaining balance of the loan. This is good for the homeowner because it relieves them of what is often a large deficiency balance, but doesn’t mean they are completely off the hook.  Under the tax law, cancelled or forgiven debt is considered income to the borrower and the lender is required to send the borrower a 1099c– a tax form used to identify cancelled or forgiven debt.

Having to pay taxes after the homeowner has lost their home is less than ideal. Fortunately, the tax law also spells out circumstances when a homeowner will not have to pay taxes from forgiven or cancelled debt. These exclusions include the following:

• Debt canceled when a person is insolvent.
• Debt that qualifies under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act

Before choosing to do a short sale or let the property foreclose, the homeowner should consult with a competent accountant to identify what tax consequences they may have to deal with. They should also ask about the exclusions listed above.

The Frei Team specializes in Southern Utah Foreclosure prevention and short sales in Southern Utah. If you are facing foreclosure or considering a short sale, contact us now. We can help you understand your options and answer your questions.

“Experience is the best teacher.” We hear this statement often, yet many of us don’t realize that it is rarely the warm and fuzzy moments in our lives that we learn from the most. Usually, our greatest life lessons come through our worst experiences. In short, we learn most from our failures. Perhaps another way to say our opening statement is that “FAILURE is the best teacher (or preacher).” In other words, failure is a gift.

Now, I know that we don’t usually think of failure as a gift. None of us wants to find failure neatly wrapped and waiting for us under the Christmas tree. No one ever sets out to fail. Well, at least you and I haven’t. There are no best-selling books on “10 Steps to Failure”, but everyone who has ever found success has had to walk through the waters of failure. Show me a successful person, and I guarantee that he or she experienced some form of failure before they reached the pinnacle of success. In fact, failure does not PREVENT success…in most cases it PRECEDES it. *Now, I’m preaching!*

In the sentence of life, failure is a COMMA – not a PERIOD. Failure should cause us to pause and reflect, but it should never cause us to stop! There have been many times that I experienced failure in my life. It was those moments that allowed me to pause, reflect, and then move forward. If I had stopped at my point of failure, I suspect there would be no Pro Bowls, Super Bowls, Truth Youth Organization, PrimeU Prep Academies, or Hall of Fame.

All of us have the potential to make it to the “Hall of Fame of Life”, but the road to the Hall of Fame is usually littered with obstacles, naysayers, haters and doubters. Like Judas, some of them are close enough to dip with you then turn around and KISS you. They’d rather see you in the “Hall of Failure.” However, we must LEARN from our failures and not LIVE in our failures. Failure is a great teacher, preacher, and motivator, but it is a terrible landlord! (TRUTH!) We must learn the LESSON…but keep on PRESSIN’ without STRESSIN!

Here are four lessons I’ve learned about failure:

Failure does not make YOU a failure.

Many people feel that just because they have failed, that makes them a failure. Nothing could be further from the TRUTH. You may have made a mistake, but that does not make you a mistake. When we understand the difference between experiencing failure and being a failure, it opens the door to success. Many people never succeed because they are too afraid to fail. When you realize that failure is NOT who you are, you are free to fail – which, paradoxically, means that you are free to succeed.

Failure is the INCUBATOR of INNOVATION.

The greatest ideas and inventions often are a direct result of failure. Failure helps us to focus so that we don’t make the same mistakes over and over again. I remember being beat for a touchdown by Art Monk early in my career. I was backed off of him about 8 yards and playing cautiously. He ran a stop and go, and I didn’t even look back because I knew it was 6. When I got to the sideline my coach asked me what happened. All I could say was “He got me.” But after I said that, I immediately said to myself “If he get me again it would have to be my way. I’m gonna ‘bump and run’ till the cows come home.” The rest is history. Sometimes in life, we’ve got to be willing to bump and run.

Failure points you in the DIRECTION of your DESTINATION.

Failure is like your own personal GPS. It lets you know when you’ve made a wrong turn and helps recalculate your route so you can get back on track. The problem comes when we think we know better than the GPS and continue traveling down the wrong road. We must learn to listen to our failures because they have a lot to tell us. Sometimes we have to change direction in order to make it to our destination. I had to change direction over 10 years ago and walk with God and not the enemy because where I was headed wasn’t a good place…and I had a lot of people following me. Publicly I was a success, but privately I struggled. Be careful who you choose to follow and where they’re leading you.

Failure is NOT forever.

Failure is a temporary stop – not a permanent sojourn. For my race fans, failure is like a pit stop in NASCAR. When a driver has to “pit” it seems like it’s a failure. He could be leading the race at the time, but when he pits, all the other drivers pass him. He loses his place in the race – but it’s only temporary. While he is seemingly falling behind, or failing, in the race, the driver is refueling. He may even change his BRIDGESTONE tires (I had to include that – you’ll see soon). The driver uses the temporary “failure” of the pit stop to get what he needs to succeed. It is important for us in the long race of life that we use the temporary pit stops of failure to refuel, refocus, and reevaluate our lives so we can get what we need to succeed. They key is to not stay in the “pits” too long. All drivers have to pit at some point. We all fail at some point, but the race is often won by the person who can get out of the pit the fastest.

Learn from your failures, and you’ll be able to teach others how to succeed! That way, failure becomes the gift…that keeps on giving!

I thought this was a great blog read and thought I would share it with you all!  We at the Frei Team are wishing you the best as we enter 2012 and are hoping that we can all overcome failures to make our dreams become a reality!

The past several months I’ve been working on a short sale in Southern Utah for a wonderful couple, they’ve had a rough go of it with some unexpected medical issues which has ultimately weakened their financial position – therefore forcing them into a Utah short sale. They are extremely pro-active in this process, always getting us any additional documents quickly and returning correspondence immediately. They are really dream clients. About 4 months ago, we got a great offer on their property from an Agent who expressed her buyers were extremely dedicated to this process and to this home, it was perfect for them – the catch was that they needed to close by a certain date. While we never guaranteed a date of when we can close, I assured her we’d do everything we could to meet their requests. For the past 4 months the buyer agent and I have stayed in constant contact, giving each other updates multiple times a week, if not daily.

Unfortunately, a few days after we received the short sale approval letter which would have allowed us to close by the date they had originally asked for, we were blindsided by an email that stated the buyers had decided they were no longer committed to this property – leaving our sellers with 4 months wasted. Was I mad? Yea, no doubt about it. But the worst part is knowing that our sellers just lost their fresh start, and also hearing the disappointment and loss of hope. This type of outcome is unacceptable to me, and now we’re going no-holds-bar to get another offer on their property and to get this closed before the bank decides their time is up.

It’s sad to say, but this isn’t uncommon… buyers walk all the time during Utah short sales. From a listing agents perspective this is extremely frustrating. Most banks only allow you to submit one offer a time, so while we’re working hard to get an offer approved, we expect the buyers to be just as committed. We’re putting all our eggs in their basket, they should have to put all their eggs in ours. From the buyers perspective, this is scary to do… they could wait months for an approval only for the home to be sold at foreclosure or for the short sale to be declined all together -therefore leaving them months past when they needed to be into a home. Constantly trying to find a balance on this teeter-totter is exhausting and can leave agents and their clients feeling frustrated and hopeless. It’s because of situations like the one I explained above and because of this constant battle to keep everyone committed and hopeful, we’ve been inspired to really analyze the Utah short sale process from BOTH angles and we’ve begun implementing some sure-fire systems that give everyone a sense of control and calmness. We’re happy to report that all the agents and buyers that we’ve tested these new systems on have had great things to say, and each transaction has gone very smooth. We’re still tweaking the systems here and there, but we’re confident we’ve got something going that will assist our sellers exponentially (and the buyers – whom are no doubt necessary to keep our sellers from foreclosure) and in return, allow everyone to breath a little easier.

If you’re concerned about the ups and downs of completing a Utah short sale, whether your a seller or a buyer, make sure you work with a team thats constantly striving to improve and is familiar with the potholes and ditches that can come up in a Utah short sale transaction. We take staying on top of our game seriously, and we’re constantly working to find ways to improve your experience. Call us to learn more about the systems we have in place to make sure you’re transaction ends successfully. Let the Frei Team go to work for you!

Delays in the Utah Loan Modification Process

I received a call from a very frustrated and distraught homeowner today. For the last few months she has tried frantically to make contact with her lender and work out a repayment plan or Utah loan modification. She and her husband had run into some financial difficulties that caused her to fall a couple months behind. They have since recovered and had saved a few thousand dollars to help catch up the back payments. She made numerous attempts to get her lender to identify the amount of money necessary to bring her loan back into good standing. They kept telling her that they couldn’t discuss the numbers over the phone but would mail them out to her. Week after week they never came. The homeowner finally went so far as to obtain a PO Box address and notified the lender of the change of address. Still no communication identifying the amount needed to bring the loan current.

Lender Sets a Foreclosure Sale Date

Just the other day the homeowner made another attempt to contact the lender and identify the restatement amount. She spoke with a rep who told her that there was a foreclosure sale date scheduled 14 days from now. The homeowner couldn’t believe what she heard. Now she is scrambling to find a way to avoid foreclosure and keep her home. She may end up having to file bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure.

Delays are not Uncommon

This story is not uncommon. I talk with homeowners everyday that are faced with foreclosure in Utah. Many who have been working with their lender for months trying to successfully negotiate a Utah loan modification or repayment plan just to find out that the lender is not agreeing to their request and oh…by the way…there is a foreclosure sale date right around the corner.

Have a “Plan B”

Although I don’t have a great explanation for why this happens, I do want to caution homeowners who have all their eggs in the Utah loan modification basket. If you are currently in foreclosure and trying to work out a repayment plan or loan modification, you may want to have a “plan B”. A short sale my be the “plan B” you are looking for. To learn more about short sales in Southern Utah, visit our website.  And of course, don’t ever hesitate to contact the Frei Team with any questions that you may have!

Why Are Utah Short Sales Popular Lately?

Chances are, you’ve heard about the record numbers of home foreclosures across the United States. After all, you see it just about every time you turn on the evening news or read the paper. This rise in foreclosures directly corresponds to a rise in the number of short sales, because the two things are closely related.

Let’s start with a definition:

Short sale — The sale of a home (by its owner) for less than the amount owed on the property.

Here is the first question most people have: “Why would somebody sell their home for less than market value? And why would the mortgage lender accept less than what is owed by the homeowner?” These are both excellent questions. So to properly understand the process of Utah short sales we must answer them both.

When homeowners can no longer afford the mortgage payments on a home, they face a possible foreclosure. The lender will foreclose on the property and sell it as quickly as possible, typically at an auction.

But in most cases, the lender does not want to pursue the full foreclosure process any more than the homeowner wants to be foreclosed upon. It can be very expensive for the lender to foreclose on the home. They have to pay an attorney to handle the foreclosure, as well as the real estate auction process.

Many times the property will not sell at auction and the lender will have to take the property back, make any necessary repairs, hire a real estate agent and then market the property until it resells, usually at a discount.

Obviously, the homeowner wants to avoid the process too. Having a foreclosure can destroy your credit. Also, whatever loss the lender takes when the property finally sells could come back to haunt the homeowner in the form of a 1099 or a deficiency judgement.

The Utah Short Sale to the Rescue

This is where short sales come into the picture. Through this process, the mortgage lender will often grant the homeowner time to sell the home prior to foreclosure, and will usually even agree to accept less than what is owed on the mortgage.

Yes, the lender does lose money in this process. But they stand to lose even more by keeping the non-performing loan on their books, and by going through the foreclosure process, and by maintaining and marketing the property, etc. So a short sale is a way for them to cut their losses sooner rather than later.

You can think of the short sale as the closest thing to a win-win situation as possible, given the circumstances. The homeowner avoids foreclosure and the credit-damaging effects of such a process and minimizes future repercussions. The lender gets some of their money back and avoids further losses.

In a perfect world, there would be no home foreclosures in Utah or anywhere else. All homeowners would make their mortgage payments, and they would never find themselves in dire financial straights. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Foreclosures do happen, and lately they’ve been happening a lot. So the Utah short sale process performs a necessary function that benefits the economy in troubled times.

If you have questions about the short sale process in Utah from either a buying or selling perspective, the Frei Team would be happy to help you. Please contact us at your convenience!

1. Credit Damage
2. Deficiency Judgment
3. Tax Liability

Credit Damage from Utah Foreclosure

A foreclosure in Utah will have a devastating effect on your credit. This is fairly obvious to most homeowners but they may not realize that a foreclosure will stay on their credit report for 7 years. This can have a significant impact on your ability to obtain financing for another home, car, or even obtain a simple credit card. It could even impact future employment. From a credit standpoint, foreclosure is the worst mark on your credit, even worse than bankruptcy in Utah.

Utah is a Deficiency Judgment State

Many homeowners think they can just let the bank take the home back and they will deal with the credit damage. But the repercussions of foreclosure in Utah don’t stop there. Utah is a deficiency judgement state!  This means that the lender may have the right to pursue the homeowner for the remaining balance (deficiency) of the loan after the foreclosure has taken place. This judgment could potentially attach to other assets the homeowner has or could go as far as garnishing wages. Now the homeowner has a foreclosure and still owes the lender the money.

Tax Liability after Foreclosure

It’s true the lender may not pursue the deficiency balance as described above. They have the option to forgive the balance of the debt. Unfortunately, the IRS considers this a taxable event. Anytime debt is forgiven over the amount of $500, the lender is required to submit a 1099c (canceled or forgiven debt) to the IRS. Forgiven debt is taxed as regular income. This could cause a significant tax burden on the homeowner.

The three major repercussions of foreclosure discussed above may not be an exhaustive list but it covers three areas that are critically important. Before letting a home go to foreclosure, homeowners should consider the negative impacts it can have, both now and in the future. Taking a proactive approach to minimize the damage a Utah foreclosure will cause may seem daunting up front, but will pay major dividends down the road.

To learn more about the options available to help you stop foreclosure and avoid the damage it will cause, visit our website or contact us directly and the Frei Team will take care of you and answer any questions that you may have!