New Law Regarding short Sales

The good news is that dealing with foreclosures may be coming to an end, or at least slowing down. Mr. Simon is a Las Vegas real estate attorney. Do you remember Assembly Bill 284? It was put into effect during 2011 in order to guarantee that mortgage lenders and servicers maintained fair business practices. Let’s be honest, there have been shady dealings such as electronic signing, which have negatively impacted financial institutions. The lawmakers in Nevada wanted full disclosure and transparency during the loan process. A Notice of Default is a legally required paper that must be filed by a lender in the county where the delinquent property is located and in advance of deciding a sale date. This document is the first legal step in the foreclosure procedure and may result any time a borrower has overdue payments. When such Notice is filed, there is still a three month plus 20 day waiting period before the lender can sell the property. After such time has lapsed, it is legal to sell the building at auction.

Pursuant to such new law there is now an additional document, referred to as an “Affidavit of Authority”, which the lender must also provide the borrower. Lender must disclose the owner of the loan, the identity of any beneficiaries, and all servicers. Penalties will be imposed for noncompliance and may also result in felony charges. This Las Vegas real estate attorney is knowledgeable about these legal requirements and available to advise his clientele as to whether compliance has been met.

The experts have concluded that these new laws will cause a decrease in the number of foreclosures. The form of Notice of Default that was filed before the new law is no longer applicable. Although in the future there will still be foreclosure sales, after short sales, loan modifications, or actual auction sales, there will likely be a smaller inventory of listings. The housing market needs to gain momentum. Hopefully the present law won’t change or a loophole be found.

The new law will also hopefully result in a higher amount of successful short sales. Banks may discover that it is hard to file a Notice of Default and preferable to complete short sales. Real estate professionals should be in a positon to push their short sales forward with the assistance of a Las Vegas attorney. The risk of foreclosure is decreased where this is a bargaining tool used in the short sale negotiation. Foreclosures are negative and only serve to make the property value go down.

Lenders are expected to encounter difficulties in obeying the new law. They are the party accountable for properly starting and completing a foreclosure. This law is state specific to Nevada. No can there be hidden information about who owned mortgages or the real beneficiaries, robo-signing, confusion, falsification, or fraud. This Las Vegas real estate attorney wants to see traditional sales proceed at true fair market prices.