We’ve been getting a lot of requests from Las Vegas home sellers that need to do a short sale to get out of their mortgages and one of the latest ones, was a referral from a friend concerning relatives that have fallen under an unfortunate circumstance.

This particular referral was for an older couple who have been squeezed from falling home prices and have come across the unfortunate situation of an illness where the medical bills have taken a toll on their finances and they can no longer afford their mortgage payments. They certainly qualify for a hardship for a short sale and have not been able to make a mortgage payment for a couple of months now. The notice of default has been filed by their lender and is now a public document.

Upon calling them for more information, the very first thing that was said was:

“We don’t have any money and we can’t pay you up front.”

I explained we don’t charge money up front and explained that we do Las Vegas short sales where we market your Las Vegas home for sale and work with your lender to accept a payoff that is less then what you owe on the home. We don’t get paid unless it works.

“Oh — we’ve been getting a lot of calls from people saying that they work for services that can help us from foreclosure but they want a fee up front. One person wanted $3,000 and the other one wanted $5,000 to help us avoid foreclosure.”

Before I continue, read this article in the Las Vegas Sun by clicking Here and pay attention to this quote:

“State legislators gave prosecutors a weapon to use against foreclosure profiteers when they passed a law last year barring foreclosure consultants from taking money upfront and making it easier to prosecute mortgage fraud.”

I’ve always been aware of these services and other “get rich in real estate through foreclosures” techniques but I was not aware that taking money up front for foreclosure assistance services was now illegal in Nevada. (According to the article that is.)

For your information, the Nevada Real Estate Division has set up a page for information for Las Vegas Homeowners facing foreclosure and your options that are available — free of charge. You can read about tips to avoid Foreclosure Scams by clicking here. Nothing is listed on this page about foreclosure assistance services that require money upfront being illegal or who to contact to report this. We know it’s going on, and obviously by the article from the Las Vegas Sun, several other people do to. (And from my recent experience with these Las Vegas homeowners that are senion citizens, I would certainly think that there could be some bigger ramifications here.)

Regardless, the biggest fears about the foreclosure process is the lack of understanding of the process, not knowing there is help and embarrasment. Precisely why homeowners facing foreclosure are easy candidates for fraud. In our business, we are well aware that homeowners are more receptive to what they want to hear and not what they need to hear.

Educate yourself — even if you are not facing foreclosure, chances are that if you live in Las Vegas, you know somebody that is.

The Nevada Real Estate Division has provided several resources for homeowners facing foreclosure including dialing 2-1-1 that will transfer you to a trained housing counselor that will put you in touch with agencies that may be able to help work something out with your lender — free of charge. 

If all else fails or if you don’t want to stay in the home, consider the possibility of a short sale. It’s not the perfect solution but in my opinion, it’s certainly better then just walking away and abandoning your home.

And…From contacts that I have within the banking industry, I think there is going to be a chance that lenders are going to start looking at short sales and homeowners that attempt to work with the bank in a different light then homeowners that just abandon their homes without trying.

In fact, from talking to one of our long time clients that works for a prominent bank, they’ve been in dicussions about notating the difference when it comes to reporting the information to the credit bureaus. More to come as I find out more concerning this but it certainly makes sense to me.

If I was lending money, I’d be much more receptive to lending money to somebody who had attempted to work out an unfortunate situation in the past then somebody who just disappeared. Lenders make money from lending money… not taking back homes so keep that in mind.

Remember, explore your options courtesy of the Nevada Real Estate Division for resources to help you work with the bank. If you think filing for a Bankruptcy under Ch. 13 or a Ch. 7 is your best option, consult an Attorney. Most of the ones that I know offer a free consultation so you understand this process and what it means.

If all else fails or you just want out of the home and want to do a Las Vegas short sale, please use the contact information below.

Paul Francis, CRS
Las Vegas Short Sales
702.592.3058

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