Saturday Reporter-Herald March 19, 2011 E1 E1
Real Estate Matters
www.homeandrealtyguide.com • Saturday, March 19, 2011 • Reporter-Herald
$8,000 tax refund at Thompson River Ranch Foreclosure may be the only way out ILYCE GLINK AND SAMUEL J. TAMKIN TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
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uestion: We built a spec house in 2007 as the market declined. We’ve tried to do everything to get it sold and recently received a short sale offer on the home. At first, our bank agreed to change the loan into an interest-only loan to help with the cash flow, but we can’t manage to cover those payments. Then our bank went out of business and was taken over by another bank. We approached our new lender with the short sale offer and agreed to pay them most of the difference between the amount offered by the buyer and the amount owed to the bank by using our retirement savings, but they declined to accept the offer because of the loss sharing agreement they have with the government. Now my husband was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and he’s unable to work, and all our cash reserves have been depleted to keep up our payments. We are in our 50s, have always been fiscally responsible and want to do the right thing. Foreclosure is not an option for us because of what it would do to our credit. We feel the bank has acted very irresponsibly and this loss share agreement is working against the taxpayer and for the bank. The bank has no incentive to work with us. Do you have any suggestions for next steps and do we have any recourse for complaints? Answer: We read your letter and felt sick. It reminds us of a story that was circulating a year or two ago that showed that buyers of banks that went under were raking in millions by taking over failed banks. They weren’t making this money as a result of their wise lending or better skills in making loans, but in large part from guarantees made by the U.S. government to the banks taking over the failed lenders. The story went on to say that the worse a loan performed, the more money the bank made. It didn’t quite make sense to set up a situation that allowed banks to make billions of dollars with no risk, but it seems to follow directly with what you are saying. In your situation you could make the bank whole (or very nearly whole) by having the buyer put up most of the money owed on the loan while you put up the difference. Yet if the bank forecloses on you and gets half that amount from the sale, the bank might make out better. How would that work? Well, if your bank purchased the loans on the books of the bank at, say, 70 cents on the dollar, and the U.S. government has a formula to guarantee the difference or a formula on the basis of the difference, your bank might make more money taking the loss than being made whole by you. If your loan balance were $500,000 and you got the buyers to offer for $400,000 plus a further $50,000 from you, the bank would get close to the amount they were owed. At that point, I See Glink/Page E3
Oakwood Homes’ Gilpin model in Thompson River Ranch
Homes as low as $154,900 with payments lower than rent
Search “OakwoodHomesCo” at YouTube.com for video tours of quick move-in homes.
RH PAID ADVERTORIAL
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ou’ll feel far out in the country within the Thompson River Ranch community but it’s easy to find and surprisingly close to major roads you may drive every day. “Many people that come tour the model homes say they heard about the community but didn’t realize how close it is to everything,” said Mike Welty of Oakwood Homes. Located in Loveland just south of Hwy 34, you can see the fast-growing area from I-25. “It’s at two major roads while being nestled far enough into the countryside that you’d never know the highways were there.” Thompson River Ranch has miles of open-space and trails surrounding and within the community, along with award winning landscaping, while still being less than three miles from the Shops at Centerra and Mountain View High School. This location also means short drives into Ft. Collins and Greeley, making any commute in Northern Colorado an easy one. With homes starting at $154,900 up to the high $200s, it offers families a selection of 15 different floor plans to customize and assures options for every lifestyle. After visiting, it’s easy to see why Thompson River Ranch was Northern Colorado’s fastest growing community last year with 74 sales. Oakwood’s homes are as desirable as the surrounding area with the amount of customization you can put into every home and the flex space available in every floor plan — not to
Kitchen of the Gilpin floor plan mention every home is extremely energy efficient and above the Energy Star standards. Ask one of their sales associates today about Oakwood’s Tax Refund promotion giving you $8,000 to put towards your home. If a quick move-in home is what you need, Oakwood has homes available immediately like the Gilpin with loads of space for the family priced at $238,475. Four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, bonus room,
full basement with finished activity center and bathroom, A/C, upgraded appliances, granite countertops, enlarged patio and more provide great options and room for the whole family. That’s 2,249 square feet of finished, livable space at a price that makes it hard to beat (plus you have a new home warranty with Oakwood Homes). Tour the community this weekend from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and see for
yourself how convenient the location really is. To find out more about Oakwood’s Tax Refund, contact Mike Welty or Dwayne Montoya at 970-663-6428 with any questions. You can also view video tours of their quick move-in homes through YouTube.com by searching “OakwoodHomesCO.” For additional information or to customize your own Thompson River Ranch home, visit www.OakwoodHomesCO.com.
Inside this week’s Home & Real Estate Realtor of the Week Wynn Washle, The Group, Inc. Real Estate
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Carol O’Meara:
Real Estate Transactions Listings from Front Range properties recently sold
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View garden royalty at annual tuber sale
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