Rejection is a hard thing to face in life, whether it’s at work, at home or from the owner of the home you hope to purchase

• The offer wasn’t enough for them to pay off their mortgage. For most sellers, the bottom line is paying off their mortgage. If your offer won’t cover the mortgage, they cannot accept it.

• They may have just been testing the waters to see what they can get for their home.
• Their plans may have changed. People put their homes on the market because they need to move, they want to upgrade their home, or they can no longer afford their home. If the circumstances change, they may not need to sell their home.
• Their deal may have fallen through. Perhaps your seller was buying another house contingent on the sale of their property. If something went wrong with that deal, they may not be able to sell their home to you.
• You may be asking too much of them. The seller may not have the time or money to make any repairs they think are insignificant. Perhaps you want to close too soon or would like to move in to the home before closing.

Don’t get depressed when a seller rejects your offer. There may be many reasons for their refusal. Help your real estate agent develop a counter offer, or move on to a new opportunity. There are a lot of homes on the market. You may be pleasantly surprised when you start looking again and find a home that fits your lifestyle even better!”

SB 931, a bill introduced earlier this year, passed through the State Senate and Assembly in August, was signed by the Governor on September 30th, 2010, and will enacted beginning January 1, 2011.

This bill would prohibit a deficiency judgment under a note
secured by a first deed of trust or first mortgage for a dwelling of
not more than 4 units in any case in which the trustor or mortgagor
sells the dwelling for less than the remaining amount of the
indebtedness due at the time of sale with the written consent of the
holder of the first deed of trust or first mortgage. The bill would
provide that written consent of the holder of the first deed of trust
or first mortgage to that sale shall obligate that holder to accept
the sale proceeds as full payment and to fully discharge the
remaining amount of the indebtedness on the first deed of trust or
first mortgage.

However, do always consult with an attorney and your CPA for any other recourse, tax or credit consequences of a short sale.   And remember, this will not help you if there is any fraud involved in your loan, or during the sale.

This is an explanation from last week (before the Governor signed it) from the California Association of Realtor’s facebook  page in response to a question about when this will be enacted:

“. . .  SB 931 would require a lender that has approved an agreed upon short sale payment to accept that amount as full payment for the outstanding balance of a loan secured by real property, prohibiting the lender from pursuing an additional deficiency judgment. The deficiency protections in this measure only apply to first liens, junior liens are not affected. If signed by the governor this week, SB 931 would go into effect on the first day of next year, January 1, 2011. The text of the bill does not specifically address whether it will be applied on a go forward basis, to short sales that occur after the effective date, or retroactively, to short sales that occurred prior to the effective date. The measure would certainly apply to those short sales that occur after the effective date of January 1, 2011 but it is unknown how or if short sales that have already closed would be affected.”

Hot Summer Nights Car Show

The popular state homebuyer tax credit returned after running out of money last year in just 4 months. If you're interested in obtaining a tax break to help reduce the cost of buying a house, you better act fast. Funding for the credit could be used up with-in 3 weeks. Association economists are projecting that funding set aside for the tax credit will be used up quickly, thanks to an unexpected flood of delayed closings by homeowners who hope to qualify for both the state and federal credits.