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Finance: Company's Woes Won't Doom Mortgage

Dear Dr. Don,
I recently purchased a home with a new fixed-rate mortgage. However, the big-name company that bought my mortgage is teetering on the verge of big financial loss and an SEC investigation.

What happens to my mortgage if the company goes belly up? Do I need to take any safeguards or wait on the sidelines until I get a new mortgage statement from whoever buys the assets?
-- Concerned Kathy

Dear Kathy,
You got your money at closing. What's important now is that your payments are properly credited to the repayment of the loan. Your home mortgage is a valuable asset in an investor's portfolio. A mortgage lender may need to sell that asset to free up cash, but the audit trail of your payments keeps you compliant with the loan agreement.

I understand your concern but, short of refinancing, you don't have a lot of control over this situation. And I'm not advocating that you refinance in this situation. Keep in mind that the firm that originated your mortgage may no longer have your mortgage in its investment portfolio, and that the mortgage servicing component of your loan can be sold to another party. (Mortgage servicing is the management of the payments associated with the mortgage.)

Again, your mortgage loan is an asset to the investor that has it in its portfolio. That asset can be bought and sold without your permission. It's your credit and payment history that influences the value of the mortgage in the investor's portfolio. The same is true with mortgage servicing. The mortgage service component of your loan can be bought or sold.

Your best defense is to keep tabs on your mortgage payments and any escrow payments on your loan. That way, you can make sure your loan payments are properly credited to interest expense and principal repayment and that your property taxes and homeowners insurance are being paid on time.

Real Estate: Is Foreclosure Investing For You?

If you are new to real estate investing and considering buying foreclosure properties, you need to be realistic about what you are facing. If you feel more sober about foreclosure investing after reading what I have written below, I will have accomplished my goal.

Foreclosure investing is not a good investment approach for beginners. I recommend that you have at least a couple of years' experience with more traditional real estate investing first. The profits from foreclosure investing can be huge. That makes foreclosures attractive. There is an awful lot to know in order to avoid the problems that can occur. If you don't know what you are doing, one disastrous foreclosure investment can wipe out your capital and your enthusiasm for all real estate investing.

Three ways to buy a foreclosure property
There are three basic approaches to buying properties in foreclosure depending on the stage of the foreclosure process: buying pre-foreclosures, buying at the foreclosure auction, and buying from lender after the foreclosure sale. If you buy from the delinquent property owner before it goes to auction, you have bought a pre-foreclosure deal. Buying at the auction is self-explanatory. If nobody bids, the lender ends up with the property. Buying from the lender after the auction is called buying REOs (real estate owned) or Repos, (repossessions). Sometimes you will see them referred to as "corporation owned" or, my favored term, "lender owned."

REOs are the least risky way to buy foreclosures

You may have more risk than you would in a regular real estate transaction, but REOs are less risky than in buying at the auction. Since REOs are somewhat similar to a regular sale, they can be pretty safe. You might not get a seller's disclosure. In California, a lender who acquires a property through foreclosure does not have to offer a disclosure to you as a buyer. But, if there are problems after you buy the property, you might be able to sue the lender who sold you the property, or at least threaten to sue them, and they might make things right or pay part of the cost. There's a good chance they will still be around after the sale.

The risks of buying pre-foreclosure real estate
The next riskiest foreclosure purchase is the pre-foreclosure. If an owner of a pre-foreclosure disappears, you risk not getting anything from him after the sale. A pre-foreclosure seller might be desperate and lie to you about the condition of the property and the neighborhood. There might be liens on the property that the seller "forgot" to mention. The big utility bills become the buyer's responsibility if the pre-foreclosure investor failed to check them out. Ditto for unpaid property taxes. There may be another person on title who did not sign the deed, and so on.

There are special laws related to dealing with and buying a property from a homeowner occupant who is in default on a loan. If the contracts and the sale are not done according to the law, the seller has the right to rescind the sale and could, long after the sale, sue to have the sale reversed. There are extreme penalties for violating the law. Remember, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." You need to know the state law when you do pre-foreclosure investing. Can the seller can legally deed the property to you? What if the seller is already in bankruptcy? The deed is likely not valid unless it has gone through the bankruptcy court.

The risk of buying at the foreclosure auction
Buying at the auction is the riskiest foreclosure purchase. At the auction you have no real estate agent to lead you through the process. You have no escrow and no title report let alone title insurance. In most jurisdictions it is an all cash sale. In some states you may have a week to a month to come up with the full purchase price. If you do not raise the money, you lose your deposit. At the auction the people conducting the sale will announce that the successful bidder will receive NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

You have no assurance that there are not other liens or loans on the property. You do not have any inspections by contractors, roofers, pest inspectors, building inspections, water well, or septic system experts. You get no disclosure from the seller as to the condition of the building or what is happening in the neighborhood. Usually you cannot see the inside of the building; perhaps not even the back of the outside. You know nothing about the electrical system, the plumbing, the heating, or air conditioning. If you buy an occupied property, you have to do an eviction, which, in some states, can drag out for a while, preventing you from getting into the property quickly to prepare for resale.

Experience and knowledge build your foundation
Now do you begin to understand why I recommend that beginners not start investing in foreclosures? Start with simpler buying approaches and get some experience with properties, laws, ordinances, deeds, and loans, and so on to provide a foundation. Learn to do title searches as fast as the professionals. Get to know intimately the government offices that have property records and tax assessment rolls. Get to know the property values in an area where you invest. Learn about the problems with properties in different neighborhoods, such as bad soil, poor construction in certain subdivisions, problems with septic systems and wells, and soil contamination. When you have learned all that, start studying up on foreclosures. Study the foreclosure laws in your state. Study law books on the priority of liens, bidding at auctions, title insurance, and bankruptcy.

When you fully understand foreclosures, start buying them. I am not trying to stop you from investing in foreclosures. They can be profitable for those who can practice it well. But, few beginners can do it well. I'm telling you to be realistic and get the background that will allow you to be successful in foreclosure investing. The field is rife with risk. You can easily lose your whole investment if you make a single mistake. Please believe me, even with all my years of real estate investing experience, it has happened to me.

Good Investing

Ron Starr

Finance: Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Before You Retire?

More people are quitting the workforce without retiring their mortgages. The most recent Federal Reserve survey shows that 32 percent of households headed by someone age 65 to 74 were carrying home-mortgage debt. That could be a mistake. Consider this scenario. Two retired couples have income of $16,000 from Social Security and $24,000 from individual retirement accounts.

The couple without a mortgage would be taxed on their IRA withdrawals, but with the standard deductions, they would owe only about $600 a year in taxes, leaving them with $39,400 in after-tax income.

The second couple took out a $200,000 30-year mortgage at age 50 that costs $1,200 per month until age 80. The interest deduction doesn't help because by the 16th year of their mortgage, just $8,400 goes to interest. Added to other deductions, they will have little more than the $11,600 standard deduction taken by the first couple.

To match the first couple's standard of living, they have to make large taxable withdrawals from their IRA. The withdrawals would drive up their total income, triggering taxes on social security. They would need total pretax income of more than $58,000 to have the same standard of living as the first couple, and they would pay more than $4,300 in federal taxes.

Financial columnist Johnathan Clements says there's another problem with carrying a mortgage into retirement. It limits the ability to tap into the home's value through a reverse mortgage. He says the reverse mortgage is a big financial backstop for cash-strapped retirees.

To pay off a $200,000 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6 percent with a $1,200 payment: Add $50 a month to pay off the loan in 27 years. Add $200 a month to pay off the mortgage in 21 years. Add $500 a month to pay it off in 15 years.

Calculate your own time frame and payments to see what you could do.